Whirlpool has been forced to recall or repair the affected machines after government intervention.

Customers with machines listed in the recall notice will be entitled to a new replacement machine, full installation, and removal of the old machine, at no cost. A refund based on product age or a modification will be available to consumers who do not want to take up the offer of a replacement dryer.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy announced the product recall. The intervention follows a review by the Office for Product Safety and Standards (OPSS) which notified Whirlpool on 4 June of its intention to serve a recall notice.

Whirlpool first issued a safety warning about millions of dryers in 2015 after it acquired the Hotpoint and Indesit brands and discovered some machines had a fault which made them a fire risk.

Since then the company has modified about 4.3 million of the affected products to make them safe, but the product recall means about 800,000 consumers with unmodified, affected tumble dryers will be entitled to a new replacement machine.

Kelly Tolhurst, consumer affairs minister, said: “I want to reassure consumers that we are doing everything we can to ensure consumers with unmodified machines are made aware and have their tumble dryer replaced.”

Whirlpool is implementing a recall plan straight away, with a publicity campaign starting on 22 July.

Leon Livermore, chief executive at the Chartered Trading Standards Institute, said: “This is great news for consumers and I welcome the work of the office. We have campaigned for many years alongside other consumer groups to have these unsafe machines removed from the homes of consumers. It’s been a challenge but I want to reiterate to everybody the importance of registering your appliance so any safety notices can reach you quickly to keep your home, you and your loved ones safe.”

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